R Soul on 19/8/2026 at 22:24
My 5 year old SATA SSD recently failed, so I'm looking to buy a new one to use as my main drive, however my computer's motherboard was bought around 10 years ago, and does not support the M.2 SSD formats which are all the rage these days.
I'd rather not replace the motherboard as that works fine, and that may also requite a processor upgrade too. My old drive has a 4TB capacity which was nice. It's proving hard to find original SATA drives of that size at a decent price (thanks AI tech bro sods).
I am seeing reasonable prices for the M.2 NVMe format at that size, and I've read about adapters that can go in the PCEI slots. I'd appreciate comments on how feasible that is. I'm not concerned if I don't get the full performance benefits of a genuine M.2 NVMe setup. The original SATA performance was fine for me, so if the adapter can match that, fine.
For some context, here's my PC:
PCIE1 slot, graphics card in PCIE2
Inline Image:
http://catmanofiowa.com/RSoul/img/PCIE_1.JPGSlots below, PCIE3 and PCIE4:
Inline Image:
http://catmanofiowa.com/RSoul/img/PCIE_3.JPG Space looks a bit tight in PCIE 1 and 3 so I'm concerned about heat. If the adapter goes in the PCIE4 slot would that interfere with the graphics card? I don't really use it to its full capacity. A complex Thief FM is most likely the most it'll ever need to handle. I may be overthinking this, so is there anything in the above info that makes anyone think "a much better thing to do is....".
I also read that the motherboard might not be able to boot from these drive due to the adapter, so I'll probably need a small old style SATA drive just for the OS.Thanks!
DuatDweller on 22/8/2026 at 00:54
You do realize that booting from HDD SATA will slow you down, right?
So if you don't care about that, there are some drives that you might want for speed, such as Kingston, Sandisk and Western Digital SSDs.
I don't currently know if there are SATA models for those brands thought.
Dahenjo on 23/8/2026 at 18:26
Hi Robin - I'm guessing it's at least a PCIe 3.0 mobo, if you give the brand & model I can check, but PCIe 3.0 has been out since 2010 so it likely is. PCIe 4.0 (faster) came out in 2017, almost a decade so you might have that, whichever it is should be clearly stated in the mobo specs. Either way this adaptor looks like it might work:
GLOTRENDS M.2 NVMe to PCIe 4.0 X4 Adapter with Heatsink (22x70mm) for NVMe SSD
(
https://www.amazon.com/GLOTRENDS-Adapter-Aluminum-Heatsink-PA09_HS/dp/B07FN3YZ8P)
"Compatible with Windows 11/10/8, Linux, and Mac OS. Support OS boot from NVMe SSD, except on some old motherboards (usable as storage then)."
You'll have to see if your mobo supports the OS boot but it might. You'd want to update to the latest BIOS version that could include stuff like that capability. It has a built-in heatsink and can work with 4T NVMe drives. It shows a speed chart for PCIe 4.0 and 3.0 (about half of 4.0), but I bet 3.0 is still faster than your old SATA SSD drive was.
Dave aka Dahenjo
baeuchlein on 24/8/2026 at 00:18
The pictures of the computer show that the mainboard is the "Z97 PC Mate" variant (1st picture, below large heatsink) of a Micro-Star International (MSI) MS-7850 mainboard (2nd picture, to the right of blue PCIe slot and "FC" sign). The manual can be downloaded (
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/Z97-PC-Mate/support#manual) here.
The board has 6 SATA connectors for SATA HDDs or SSDs. There are two PCIe x16 slots, but only one supports PCIe 3.0, the other only PCIe 2.0. The info I read on Amazon does not tell me whether the Glotrends adapter needs PCIe 3.0 or 4.0 to work, so the adapter might work only on the PCIe 3.0 slot. But that's the one where the graphics card is located in at the moment. Also, I find no information in the mainboard manual about whether booting from that adapter is supported in this particular board.
DuatDweller mentioned Western Digital (WD) and SATA SSDs. Here in Germany, a shop offers "WD Blue SA510 500GB, SATA3" and "WD Blue SA510 1TB, SATA3", which seem to be SSDs, although smaller than what seems to be desired (around 4 TB). But maybe there are even some larger SSDs from WD or another manufacturer of R Soul's choice (no idea about the price, though). Thus, it might be easier to buy a SATA SSD (regardless of whether it's one from WD or from another manufacturer) and just connect it to a SATA connector instead of doing all the hurly-burly with NVMe and the adapter, and then cross fingers and pray for the best once drivers, BIOS and OS seem to be ready for the adapter stunt.
Dahenjo on 24/8/2026 at 13:28
Nice sleuthing work on the mobo model @baeuchlein. I didn't look at the manual but from what you said an adaptor won't work since they need at least a PCIe 3.0 slot which is taken by the GPU. If one might somehow work on a 2.0 slot it'd be really slow and not worth it.
On the US Amazon site I see decent quality SATA III SSDs starting at ~$200 for 2TB and $350-ish for 4TB that are probably the only good option with that mobo. Others run higher but imo aren't worth it in this case, in fact I'd recommend just the 2TB unless you absolutely need more space. A good local PC shop might have a much better deal on something used but of course with more risk.
R Soul on 25/8/2026 at 22:39
Thanks for your replies. Sorry for not listing the motherboard type. It's been a trying time and that bit slipped my mind. MSI Z97 PC Mate is the motherboard.
I've been in touch with the original SSD's repair company and they've agreed to the RMA procedure as the drive is just within warranty. I'll most likely be given a replacement. I'll also look at external drives to use for backing things up (I did have backups of emails and most logins, most of my photos, and my FMs in progress, but not weightier things like custom texture source files)
It's also nice to know that it's not worth going down the adapter & NVMe route. The main reason for considering that was to have a newer kind of SSD ready if my motherboard fails, so I'd at least have the consolation of a super fast drive to make up for the fuss of a new MB and CPU etc, but it's probably better to stick to what works with my current setup.
Starker on 26/8/2026 at 00:01
Honestly, you are hardly going to even notice any substantial difference between a "slow" SSD and a blazing fast SSD in regular use, unless you are doing things like video editing or 3D work or regularly move very large files. The difference between a HDD and a SSD, any SSD, is massive, the difference between an older SSD (SATA) and a newer SSD (NVME) is at best a couple of seconds at a few places, cause the bottlenecks are elsewhere.
